


More Than An Apprentice

by pikablob



Series: Maya & Ava [1]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Invasion of Privacy, The Crimson Raiders were listening when Beans read Ava's diary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21710677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pikablob/pseuds/pikablob
Summary: Ever since her diary was read live on air, Ava has been hiding away in her room; Maya goes to try and offer her apprentice some comfort.
Relationships: Ava & Maya (Borderlands)
Series: Maya & Ava [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565641
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	More Than An Apprentice

“Ava?”

There was silence in response. Maya frowned, feeling concern worm its way through her gut. The door in front of her, usually readily open, was sealed shut; her apprentice hadn’t come out since Zane had brought her things back from Athenas, choosing to seal herself away from everything that had happened.

A Maliwan soldier had found her diary and started reading it over an open ECHO channel, mocking every hardship and terror the poor girl had gone through to a live audience. Of course the Crimson Raiders monitored their Vault Hunters’ ECHO communications on deployment, so the entire bridge of the _Sanctuary III_ had listened as the bastard mocked and Ava desperately tried to deny and backtrack and minimise the truth.

Maya had known she was an orphan, and it had never been hard to imagine she must have been through significant hardship. She had first encountered the girl trying to steal some of her books; she had been dangerously underweight, flinched at every slight, and met every new person with suspicion and distance. But Maya had chosen not to press beyond that; if Ava wanted to keep her past secret she would respect that, and she trusted the girl to come to her if she ever wanted to talk about it.

But hearing the truth of it in her own words; how she’d lost everything to the point she was reduced to sleeping on top of a sewer vent just for warmth, had made Maya’s heart break for the kid.

So here she was, standing outside a closed door on the ship’s lower deck, worried sick. She wanted to help, after all Ava was her apprentice, but she couldn’t do anything if the girl wasn’t willing to talk to her. She knocked on the door, the sound echoing in the empty corridor.

“Ava? I just want to talk to you.”

“Go away!” a muffled voice replied from the other side. Even through the door Maya could hear the lump in Ava’s throat. Listening more closely she could hear the kid start muttering. She sighed, reaching for the door release and feeling thankful that while these things could be set to manual they couldn’t be locked. She hit the release and it slid open.

“That jerk!” Something came flying up towards Maya. She caught it instinctively, only to realise her hand had closed around a crumpled piece of paper.

Ava was on her knees in the centre of the room, surrounded by similar crumpled balls and ripped sheets of paper. She was leaning over the source; her diary lay by her knees, jagged edges sticking up where pages had been ripped out. She looked up; her eyes were red from unshed tears and trying to rub them away.

She stood up the moment she saw Maya, hands balling into fists and gaze turning to a glare.

“I said go away!” she yelled. Maya stood firm.

“No,” she said softly, voice laden with concern. “You’re hurt, and isolating yourself is only going to make things worse.” Ava looked down, folding her arms. “I just want to help you.”

“Fine,” she spat, tone quavering as if even getting the words out was painful. “Let’s get this over with.” Even her breaths quivered, chest rising and falling irregularly. She almost looked afraid, somehow.

“I don’t need to tell you what happened out there wasn’t right,” Maya said, choosing her words carefully. “I’m sorry we had to find out your past like that.”

“You could have just stopped listening,” Ava countered, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. Maya shook her head.

“Then we wouldn’t have known if something happened to Zane,” she explained. “It wasn’t an easy situation, but if he was in the firing line we had to keep an ECHO line open.” She took a deep breath, reaching out and gently placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder; she opened her mouth to protest, but Maya spoke again. “Look, I understand it’s tough. But everyone’s worried about you and hiding away from them is only going to make you feel worse.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Ava shrugged off the contact. “None of them are ever going to be able to look at me the same! Now they all know my secrets and all the stuff I did; now all they’re gonna see is a kid who ran and hid and stole and cheated! I can’t face them after that!” She had to stop for breath, furiously rubbing at her eyes for a moment to fight the sting of fresh tears. When she spoke again her voice was quieter, more broken. “Just tell me the truth, okay? Quit it with the pity crap.”

“What are you expecting me to say?” Maya asked cautiously.

“That this,” -she gestured all around her- “Is over? That you don’t want me around anymore now you know the truth about me?” Maya didn’t respond, momentarily taken aback. Ava continued, emotion running rampant. “I’m just an apprentice; you can always find someone else. Why would you want the girl who spent four months living above a sewer outlet for warmth? Who stabbed everyone who tried to help her in the back because she was too scared they were gonna do the same to her?!” She seemed to pause, energy drained after all that. Her lip was quivering, and she tried in vain to blink back tears. “Just admit it,” she sniffed, “You want me out of here, don’t you?!”

“Ava,” Maya said firmly, still working through everything she’d just heard, “Look at me.” The girl reluctantly met her gaze. It stung a little, knowing Ava thought she’d be abandoned for something as minor as this, but knowing her past it was an understandable fear.

“I would never turn you out,” Maya continued. “You’re so much more to me than just an apprentice; I can’t just replace you with anyone.”

“You mean it?” Ava sniffed.

“Yeah,” Maya nodded. “We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of here, we’ve all made mistakes; none of us judge you for what you did to survive. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like that wasn’t the case.”

“No!” Ava cut in. “No, no! You shouldn’t be sorry! I’m the one with the stupid fears. You’ve practically been like… like a mom to me these past few months. I just, I don’t know.”

That gave Maya pause. She had never thought of herself as the maternal type, but looking at her relationship with Ava she could see why the girl would say that. Hell, she’d just said herself that she saw Ava as more than just an apprentice, and she knew she cared for her a great deal. The thought of Ava as her daughter involuntarily filled her with warmth.

“You see me as a mother?” she asked gently.

“N-no I,” Ava stammered, before trying to swallow the lump in her throat. “Okay, fine, yes, I do. Losing you would be like losing my parents all over again and that’s the whole thing; I’m not your kid and I know that but I can’t help it.” She winced at the admission, still unable to keep from fearing the response. A small smile came upon Maya’s face.

“Of course you’re my kid,” she offered. “I already said you’re more than just an apprentice. If you want to see me as a mother then, honestly, I wouldn’t mind. You’re family to me already, Ava.”

Out of everything, she didn’t expect Ava’s skinny arms to wrap around her torso and pull her into a tight hug. The kid buried her face in Maya’s robe, hanging on for dear life as if she might disappear. She was crying, Maya realised with a start. After so long of holding it all in the dam had come crashing down and she was letting it out. Awkwardly, and with some trepidation, Maya returned the hug, wrapping her arms around the teen’s sobbing form.

“Mom,” Ava choked out, almost too quiet to hear.

“I’m here,” Maya soothed, “I’m not going anywhere.”

They stayed like that for a few moments as everything came pouring out. Ava had been alone and hurting for a long time, unable to let her emotions show, but finally she knew someone was there she could turn to. The thought filled her with growing warmth, and slowly her sobs grew quiet. Finally she let go, rubbing her eyes and looking up with a small but love-filled smile.

“Thanks, mom.”

“It’s fine,” Maya returned the smile, reaching up to awkwardly ruffle the girl’s hair. This was still new territory for her, and she wasn’t quite sure how to act, but just hearing the word made her heart swell. Ava blushed at the affection, looking away, only for her gaze to fall upon the torn and crumpled paper that littered the floor. Her face fell.

“What have I done?” she said quietly, kneeling down beside the gutted remains of her diary.

“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” Maya reasurred, kneeling beside her and placing a reassuring hand on her back. “I have plenty of unused journals; I could help you collect this up and transcribe it.” She paused, remembering how this whole debacle had begun with an invasion of privacy. “Only if you wanted me to.”

Ava smiled. “I’d like that.”


End file.
